The three wyverns stared at the portal with identical expressions of loathing.

“This should be fun!” May told Ysolde. “I haven’t taken a portal in forever.”

“Me either. Baltic always makes us fly places. I always did think it was kind of magical. One moment you’re in one place, and poof! The next you’re in another,” she answered, taking off her shoes and tucking them under her arms.

“You’ll forgive us if the next time you have a party, we send our regrets,” Gabriel told Drake when the portal man flipped the switch that turned the power on to the large, swirling mass in the center of a stack of mattresses and pads. It hummed with energy.

Drake grimaced. “After what’s happened at this one, I’m likely to miss the next, as well.”

The First Dragon gave them all a stern look, then stepped into the twisting oval of light and matter and space and time.

Chapter Seven

“Aiieeeeeeeeeee!” The word, more of a scream, really, came to an abrupt halt when I hit something soft, but solid. I shook my head, and pushed up, finding myself lying facedown on the sort of mats that gymnasts use, and looked around the room. I had an odd tickle in my nose like I was going to sneeze, but other than that, nothing seemed to be out of place. “So that’s a portal. Wow.”

A small brunette woman with a pink bow sitting on top of an elaborate 1960s hairstyle stepped forward, and said in a voice heavy with a French accent, “You must move, yes? There is another coming, and he will land upon you.”

“Ack!” I leaped to my feet and spun around looking for the nearest exit. “That blasted thief taker Savian! I’ll be damned if I let him hand me over to—” I stopped, hearing voices that sounded familiar in another room. I pointed at the wall. “What’s in there?”

“The receiving chambre? It is where people go when they need to recover, you know?” She gave a Gallic shrug. “Not everyone, they have the power to portal par excellence.”

The portal behind me started swirling even faster, warning me that Savian was coming. I debated running out of the building, but a familiar voice did amazing things to my insides, so instead I dashed for the door to the next room, slamming and locking the door behind me. When I turned to face the occupants, the sight that met my eyes was not at all what I was expecting.

The room contained two long olive green couches, and three bright orange overstuffed chairs. On the floor was a diamond-patterned rug. It also contained Drake Vireo, lying facedown, his hair standing on end, one sleeve of his shirt completely gone. At one of the couches, May was trying to get a completely naked Gabriel to sip from a cup of water. Like Drake, his hair stood on end, and he appeared to have two black eyes.

Ysolde was attempting to drag Baltic onto one of the chairs, but she’d managed to get only his torso onto it. He had one shoe on, and was wearing his tie around his head like a headband. He was also speaking in a way that sounded more garbled than an actual language. “I’m telling you that you need to sit up, and then I can find your other shoe. Stop trying to help, Baltic. Your legs aren’t working right yet.”

But it was the man propped up next to the wall that had me staring in surprise. Avval was sitting with his legs splayed out in front of him like a rag doll, his hair slicked back as if he’d wet it down, his hands twitching occasionally.

I hurried over to him, noting that Ysolde had given up on Baltic and was now checking on Drake.

“You came after me? That’s so sweet of you. Kind of annoying, too, but really, I think the sweetness wins out. Are you OK?” I asked Avval, squatting next to him. “Did someone attack you? How did you know I was going to be here? Was it that annoying Savian? Are you, by any chance, rescuing me from him? Because if you are, I might cry.”

His eyes were open, but they were unfocused. They were also ebony, with no difference between the pupil and the iris.

“Hrn,” he said. “Fleng mit rnn.”

“Dragons don’t do portals well,” May said, passing me with two paper cups of water in her hands. She gave me one. “They discombobulate them. Something to do with their molecular structure. Gabriel, do not get up, you haven’t recovered yet. You’ll just fa—there, see, I told you not to get up. Sorry, Drake. I hope he didn’t hurt you.”

She set down the water and helped Ysolde drag the naked Gabriel off Drake and back onto the couch.

I touched Avval’s cheek. “Would you like a sip of water?”

“Flern,” he told me, then made an effort to pull himself together, his arms and legs doing a brief swimming motion. “Charty.”

“That’s right, I’m Charity,” I said soothingly, holding the cup to his lips. “Take a sip. Just one, I don’t want you choking on it.”

He put a hand up and managed to grasp mine as I let him have a few sips. “Found you.”

“Yes, you did, that was very clever of you. Almost as clever as putting your clothes on backward.”

He looked down, his eyes slowly focusing. His pants and shirt were indeed on backward. “That is... odd.”

“It’s the portal,” Ysolde said, having rolled Drake over onto his back. He had blood on his lips, and was apparently missing a tooth. “Gabriel came out starkers, and Baltic is all out of sorts. Yes, yes, my love, I’ll have someone find some dragon’s blood. Just give me a moment to check Drake and talk to Charity, since it is her we came to find.”

“Why?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Why are you all here?”

“We couldn’t let the First Dragon come all by himself. He doesn’t know how to get around Paris, and besides, we all know what portals do to dragons,” May said.

“Thank you. I think,” I said, unsure of whether I was being rescued or recaptured.

“Just be thankful we didn’t let Jim come with us,” Ysolde said with a grimace.

“Why do you want to give them blood?” I asked, helping Avval when he tried to get to his feet. He was a bit wobbly, so I held on to his belt until he managed to stand up straight. “They don’t look hurt.”

“What? Oh, dragon’s blood? It’s a wine-based beverage, not actual blood,” Ysolde said, tsking and taking the tie off Baltic’s head. “Here, let me tidy you up and then you’ll feel better.”